Whether you have recently become married or retired from a career, you may feel inspired to get your affairs in order. Creating a comprehensive estate plan may seem overwhelming; however, there are documents you can put in place to make matters easier for your friends...
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Powers of attorney are essential to have for your peace of mind
You may be close to retirement or just starting your career. You may be single, widowed or newly married. No matter what your age, medical and financial powers of attorney should occupy a prominent place among your estate planning tools. Your medical power of attorney...
How are the three types of probate different?
Probate is the process of the court legally finalizing your estate once you die. The process acts as an oversight to ensure your personal representative acts according to our wishes and to determine if your estate documents are valid under the law. According to the...
Why are Americans creating unequal estate plans?
In the event that you have more than one child, you are likely aware that the boilerplate advice is to divide your estate as evenly as possible between them. After all, serious family rifts as a result of unfair estate distribution (or distribution a beneficiary...
When should you update your beneficiaries?
One of the core components of a functional estate plan is the selection of beneficiaries. Often, you will choose people you care about to acquire your assets. As your life progresses, you may want to change who you have previously named as a beneficiary. Because your...
Should you tell your family about your estate plan?
Your estate plan likely contains private information regarding your finances, investments and legacy. While you do not want to share this information without boundaries, you may want to inform those close to you of your intentions. Understanding the value of talking...
How often should you update your will?
It is not enough to be among the roughly 30% of Americans who have a will or estate plan in place. For the courts to consider your will or estate plan appropriate or even valid, it must align with your current familial situation and goals. For it to do this, you must...
Handling Florida probate from another state
When you agree to serve as the personal representative for a family member who lives in Florida, you must navigate the state's probate process even if you reside elsewhere. The court where your relative lived will supervise the process of distributing estate assets...
How should you prepare for estate taxes?
A common assumption amongst many of those engaged in the estate planning process in Florida is that there is nothing one can do to avoid the potential for estate taxes. Yet if you share the same belief, you should know that may not be the case. First and foremost,...
Advanced medical directives for living wills
Living wills provide people the means to dictate how the medical world approaches their life, whether it is in crisis or not. Without directives from a living will, healthcare professionals have a default procedure to fall back on that may not fit with a person's...